Of Flying Wolves, A Mysterious Hawke and Monsters Under the Bed
by Mogo Girl
Summary: A character study of Caitlin O'Shannessy...kind of what makes her who she is. An experimental one-shot...


_Disclaimer: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only. _

_A/N:So I wanted to try something a little different, kind of a character study and I decided to try with Caitlin . I love the story she told in Desperate Monday of how her father taught her to solve her own problems when she told him she was afraid of the monsters under her bed so I'm using that as a basis of sorts for this essay. Please let me know what you think. _

_**Of Flying Wolves, A Mysterious Hawke and Monsters Under the Bed**_

_Caitlin O'Shannessy was a mere 32 years old but she had already experienced more than most people did in their whole lifetime. She hadn't purposefully set out to live such an exciting and at times, dangerous life but maybe subconsciously she had sought it out. Ever since she was a young girl growing up on her parents' ranch in Texas, she had always been the tom-boy, the adventurous one. She loved riding horses and dirt bikes, she was always the first one of her friends to take a dare and when her father gave her the opportunity to learn to fly the helicopter he used to survey his many hundreds of acres, she jumped at the chance. _

_Her mother had always hoped that it was just a phase Caitlin was going through. Caitlin had two much-older brothers and her mom had convinced herself that Caitlin was just trying to keep up. However it was clear that by the time Caitlin was 15 and at an age when all of her girlfriends were worried about what they would wear to the school dance and who their date would be to the Friday night football game, that Caitlin was different. Oh she was a pretty girl, what with her long legs, creamy skin full of freckles and, natural, flowing red hair who had her share of boys who wanted to take her out but she didn't seem to care about those things. Instead, she was always asking her father to show her how to perform maintenance on the helicopter or what it would take to get her multi-engine license so she could fly more types of aircraft. She had her head in the clouds alright but it wasn't in the sense that most teenage girls did. _

_"That's one independent and stubborn girl we've raised there," Caitlin's father would often say with pride as he watched her attempt things that most girls would never dream of. Caitlin's mother would just shake her head and blame it all on her husband. "You know, it all started with that monsters under the bed nonsense," she would say. "If you'd been like any normal father and just gotten her a nightlight instead of insisting that she find a way to take care of them herself…" Even at the tender age of seven, Caitlin's response to her father's challenge had been to get a hacksaw and saw off all four legs of her bed so nothing could get under it. It was probably at that point that Caitlin's mother knew that her youngest daughter wasn't going to be the typical girly type._

_Once she had her pilot's license and a criminal justice degree from college under her belt, Caitlin knew exactly what she wanted to do. Law enforcement had always seemed to call her name and when she learned that you could fly helicopters for the Highway Patrol, well that was all it took. Six months of intensive training at the Texas Highway Patrol academy led her to what she figured would be a world of excitement and new challenges. Unfortunately life doesn't always turn out the way you plan. Instead of catching hardened criminals and doing investigations she spent most of her time flying helicopter traffic control above long, desolate, back-country roads. Not exactly exciting times. _

_Until of course she found herself at odds with the sheriff of Pope County, Sheriff Bogan, and was almost abused by a bunch of the sheriff's underlings when she tried to expose him as the corrupt official he was. That was when Stringfellow Hawke flew into her life, literally. Appearing out of nowhere in the night sky in a screaming, big, black battleship with rotors…a helicopter like she'd never seen in her life…Hawke swooped down and held the men at bay while she could get away. Later, when she found Hawke wrongly being held by Bogan in his jail, she would realize that the chopper he flew wasn't the only thing that intrigued her about the man who called himself Stringfellow Hawke. _

_By the time everything was settled in Pope County, Hawke had blown up half the town and took the sheriff and his men with it. He wouldn't admit then that he was the pilot of that wondrous machine but Caitlin knew. She never forgot a voice, a face or a helicopter. She vowed as he flew off, his turbo engines leaving her behind, that she would find both that man and his machine, no matter what it took. Both had grabbed her attention from the minute she'd set eyes on them. Caitlin was ready for a new adventure in her life anyways. Being a flying meter-maid, as Bogan had called her, was quickly losing its appeal. _

_Now here she was two years later and once again, life hadn't really turned out as she had planned. In some ways, things were better, much better. After locating the mysterious Stringfellow Hawke, she had convinced him and his mentor, Dominic Santini to hire her on to Santini's air service flying charters and doing movie stunts with them. It was good work with good men and she was happy. Even so, she never stopped asking and wondering about the black helicopter she had seen. Finally, when they were forced to use a third pilot due to injuries, Hawke had told her the truth and Caitlin not only got to see the helicopter she had been lusting after, but she also was allowed to pilot the machine. _

_Within months she had become a regular part of the Airwolf crew and was routinely flying missions for The FIRM, a free lance government agency. It was the very excitement she had been longing for when she joined the THP. Of course, as is often the case, such excitement could bring danger and peril but for Caitlin, it was part of the package and she wouldn't want it any other way. While her mother knew that Caitlin was flying stunts, if she had a clue of half the things her daughter had become involved in, she would have had a heart attack or died from embarrassment. It wasn't the type of activity that a good southern girl should be involved with in Caitlin's mother's mind. Caitlin often wondered what her father would think of her life if he knew all of it but suspected that while he would express his concerns he would probably secretly be very proud. _

_As for Stringfellow Hawke, now that was an interesting situation. For Caitlin, he was still as much the fascination as he had been the first day she met him. With his rugged good looks and disarming blue eyes, it wasn't hard to understand the immediate attraction. But even after two years, she still felt that he was one of the most mysterious men she had ever met. Sure, she had learned some things about the man…he was solitary, introspective, brooding, intelligent, fiercely loyal to the few family and friends he had and, troubled. But these were all traits that could easily be seen after being around him even a short time. Caitlin longed to know more of what was really beneath that gruff and intense exterior. Every once in a while she would catch a glimpse only for it to be quickly hidden away again. _

_But these things made him a challenge and for Caitlin, it was probably one of the main reasons that she had found herself falling madly in love with him over the last two years. Unfortunately it appeared to be an unrequited love. While the two had become very close on a friendship level, there was nothing that had ever happened to push it any further. Still, Caitlin kept hoping… not that she was depriving herself of male companionship when she needed it, she would go on dates when asked but she almost always seemed to compare those men to Stringfellow Hawke and in her mind they could almost never live up to the comparison…so she kept hoping that eventually he would sense the feelings she had for him. It could be a lonely situation for her at times, but she truly believed that this was a man that would be worth the wait. _

_So in the end, Caitlin O'Shannessy seemed to have almost everything…heart-pounding excitement, the thrill of piloting Airwolf, the challenge of a mysterious and handsome man that she loved with all of her heart and soul and the knowledge of knowing her life was right where it needed to be. If this was the first 32 years, she couldn't possibly wait to see what the next 32 would bring. _

_THE END! _


End file.
